The B.­A. in German Language, Literature, and Culture is currently not enrolling incoming students for Fall 2026.

Degrees Offered: Minor, B.A.

Why Study German?

Knowledge of German gives students improved qualifications in fields as diverse as arts, media, sciences, research, technology and the humanities.

Take a campus tour with German major Charlotte Ebel ’25, Student Athlete, University Scholar, and triple major in Women’s and Gender Studies; German Language, Literature, and Culture; and Communication Studies.

• German is one of the official languages of the EU
• 42 million Americans can trace their ancestry to Germany
• Germany is the most important trading partner for almost all European and many non-European partners
• Knowledge of German will give you a better chance when applying to graduate schools
• Read Goethe’s “Faust”, listen to Bach and Schubert, watch movies like “Live of the Others,” all in the original language.
• German is one of the most commonly used languages after English on the internet
• German companies account for 800,000 jobs in the US. Knowing German gives you an advantage for careers in:
• Business, Communication Studies, European Literature, History, International Relations, Journalism, Linguistics, Literature, Music, Psychology, Publishing, Sociology, and Sciences

German Language Placement

All students who would like to take German are required to take a language placement assessment, regardless of previous exposure to or instruction in German.

Please note that the language placement assessment is designed to place you at the correct skill level. It is not a graded exam or a proficiency test but rather an assessment to match your skills with the appropriate language course at SU.

Information to navigate the assessments can be found at Language Placement Exams - College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University.

If you have any questions, please contact Professor Karina von Tippelskirch. 

Questions concerning fulfilling your program’s language requirement can be directed to the Department Chair at lllchair@syr.edu.

Kade Student Travel Awards

Download the PDF application for the Kade Student Travel Award.

German Major and Minor

The German Major and Minor

Students are admitted into the major through departmental approval and should consult the German Program Coordinator about their major as early as possible so that they may be sure to satisfy prerequisites and requirements within four years.

The Major

A Major in German requires a minimum of 27 credits beginning with GER 202 and above. Refer to the Course Catalog for specific major requirements. 

The Minor

The German Minor requires at least 18 credits; 12 of the credits have to be taken at the 300 level or above. Refer to the Course Catalog for specific minor requirements.

Classes

Refer to the Course Catalog for a list of classes.

German Resources

Zeitungen
Süddeutsche Zeitung: one of the biggest German daily newspapers
Jetzt-Online: youth magazine of Sueddeutsche Zeitung; weekly
Die Zeit: weekly paper covering both politics and culture
Hamburger Morgenpost: daily paper
Bild: German daily tabloid paper
taz: Berlin daily paper (website has only textversions of articles)
Die Neue Zürcher Zeitung: one of Switzerland's biggest daily papers
News: Austrian tabloid paper
Der Standard: Austrian daily paper

Magazine
Der Spiegel: THE German political magazine
Focus: Spiegel's opponent, easier to read
Stern: comparable to People's magazine
Bunte: similar to Stern
Cosmopolitan
Max: German lifestyle magazine
Vogue Deutschland
Elle Deutschland
Sport-Bild: sports tabloid
Der Kicker German soccer magazine

Politik und Regierung
Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Geschichtsüberblick
Auswärtiges Amt: German foreign ministry
Info über Deutschland: page by the German government, has lots of different information about Germany
German government
Austrian government: with lots of info about Austria and its people
Swiss parliament

Texte
Projekt Gutenberg: full text database of a vast variety of German authors
Märchen offers several German fairy tales as mp3s
Amazon The German site of Amazon

Städte
Berlin
Hamburg
Frankfurt/Main
München
Köln
Salzburg
Innsbruck
Wien
Bern
Zermatt

Universitäten:
In Deutschland:
FU-BEST,Freie Universitat-Berlin European Studies, SU World Partner Abroad

In Österreich:
Uni Innsbruck
Uni Salzburg
Uni Wien
Link zum Goethe-Institut

Nachrichten
Die Tagesschau (ARD)
Heute-Nachrichten (ZDF)
Deutsche Welle
Scola: SU students can access Scola through the SU Library and use Scola world TV and language learning tools free of charge.

Filme
Info about movies in the theater
Der Herr der Ringe (Lord of the Rings)
Good Bye Lenin
Lola rennt (Run Lola Run)
Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The princess and the warrior)
Film Portal

Deutsches Fernsehen
ARD
ZDF
Sat1
RTL
Pro Sieben

Online-Wörterbücher
LEO An easy to use online-dictionary that provides good results
Dictionary.com You get a list of dictionaries when you click on 'German'
Pons-Online-Wörterbuch Here you will also find technical vocabulary lists (look at the links above the dictionary!)
Idiomatische Redewendungen A bis K A resource of idioms
Idiomatische Redewendungen L bis Z The second part of the above
http://germanyinusa.tumblr.com German Tumbler